Dr. Stephen Farry:

I beg the indulgence of the Chairman because I want to refer to what was agreed yesterday between the UK Government and the European Commission around a number of flexibilities relating to the protocol. I thank the Minister for his good offices. I am sure the Irish Government had something to do with the progress that has been made on those issues over the past number of weeks and months. I stress that there will be other areas in which we will need to see more progress and flexibility. This is certainly a glass-half-full moment but we are not quite there just yet.

On the issue of legacy, I will start with the Ballymurphy issue, the reason we are meeting. What is the Minister's opinion on the genuine options that will be available next in terms of the campaign for justice for the families? I appreciate that this falls into the jurisdiction of the UK but I note, for example, that we have not heard much from the UK Ministry of Defence so far, under whose jurisdiction the soldiers in question fell. We have also not heard much about the prospect of further criminal investigations into what happened. I bear in mind the wider statements the families have made about their concern and reticence over any potential move away from the Stormont House Agreement.

What is happening now in terms of dialogue and consultation? My party is wary of this process, primarily because there is very little trust of the modus operandiof the UK Government. There are questions as to whether things are being done for the right reason of finding agreement or whether they are being done to suit a particular agenda and bolting on whatever else needs to be done. There is nervousness about what we are getting ourselves into in this process. Are we, in effect, going to act as people who, shall we say, polish the bad look, to a certain extent, of flawed proposals which are then imposed over the heads of the Northern Ireland political parties? Is this a situation whereby for this process to go ahead, there is an expectation that if we are to have an open mind on how to do this, any package will essentially have to be agreed either formally or by informal consensus across both Governments and a critical mass of the Northern Irish political parties, in the same way as was the case for the Stormont House Agreement? Before we go on that journey, we need a sense of reassurance that we are not going to end up inadvertently giving legitimacy to a process that is fundamentally flawed in a range of ways and is then imposed over our heads by the UK Government.